It looks as if the Mexican President is just as nutty as Gadafi



>URGENT ACTION NEEDED TO PRESERVE CAVING IN MEXICO
>
>A STATEMENT FROM THE ASSOCIATION FOR MEXICAN CAVE STUDIES,
>A PROJECT OF THE NATIONAL SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
>
>Editor: Bill Mixon
>Treasurer: Andy Grubbs
>Advisory Board: James Reddell, William Russell, Peter Sprouse
>
>The controversial rescue of British cavers in Cuetzalan has now mushroomed
>into a political and diplomatic fiasco that threatens all caving activities
>in Mexico. The fact that some of them were in the military, and wanted 
>their
>own cave diving team to come get them, seems to have fueled wild suspicions
>in the media and stirred up nationalistic and political sentiment. The
>result is that there may be severe restrictions put on caving activities
>unless cavers' voices are heard at this point. Please read through this 
>post
>and consider the recommended actions.
>
>A PLEA FROM RAMON ESPINASA (Sociedad Mexicana de Exploraciones 
>Subterraneas)
>
>Dear cavers: Just returned from Cuetzalan, The guys are all out, but then
>were whisked off by the military and taken to Migracion, where they are now
>being interrogated. The whole issue exploded when our president, Vicente
>Fox, decided to make a statement on Wednesday, thus creating an
>international diplomatic incident. The worst case scenario could be a
>banning of all foreign cavers from exploration in Mexico, and it could end
>up with even Mexican cavers being restricted from entering caves in Mexico.
>
>It is important that every caver that has caved in Mexico send e-mails to
>Secretaria de Gobernacion and/or any media outlet that will take their
>messages, stressing the fact that caving is a touristic activity. It is
>really sad to say that our authorities are more interested in the migratory
>status of the cavers than in bringing them out alive. It should also be 
>said
>that the group made several public relations mistakes, since they ignored
>the magnitude of the scandal that was growing, and so never considered it
>important to make a proper press statement. This was caused in part by
>their lack of knowledge of Spanish (Jonathan, the only one who could
>speak fluently, was one of the trapped people), and the fact that
>Cuetzalan has no newspapers and very few TV's.
>
>Please, please, make every effort to pass the word that caving is a 
>touristic
>activity, as this is the only thing that can help the situation now.
>
>Ramon Espinasa
>
>----------------
>
>If you look through the online news stories you will see that various
>Mexican cavers are quite concerned about this and are defending foreign
>caving expeditions. This has now become an assault on caving by non-cavers,
>regardless of any errors the British expedition may or may not have made. 
>It
>is important that cavers contact the authorities and explain that they are
>tourists pursuing a hobby, plain and simple.
>
>It seems that it is now up to the immigration department to determine if
>mapping caves is an ecotourism activity or a scientific activity. If
>deemed the former, tourist visas will continue to be sufficient. If the
>latter, cave mapping on a tourist visa may result in 18 months in jail.
>So the point to be stressed is that cave mapping is a tourist activity.
>
>While in the end the cavers were not charged with a crime (presumably
>the wild uranium prospecting herring), they have been expelled for 2 years
>for visa violations, that is conducting "scientific" investigation on a
>tourist visa. We must get the message across that mapping caves is a
>legitimate tourist activity: climbers map routes, mountain bikers map
>trails http://www.bicimapas.com.mx/ and cavers map caves.
>
>Cavers living in Mexico are urged to contact their government officials
>to express their concern. Cavers living outside Mexico should contact
>the Mexican Consulate and the Mexican Tourism Secretariat, as tourism is
>an important part of the Mexican economy. The Tourism Secretariat
>is already on our side, and needs to hear from us:
>
>BRITISH CAVER FLAP STUNS TRAVEL PROMOTERS
>
>By JOHN RICE, Associated Press Writer
>
>MEXICO CITY - Mexican tourism officials have promoted the nation's
>spectacular caverns to spelunkers worldwide. So they were caught 
>off-balance
>when immigration officials detained British explorers for allegedly
>violating visa regulations when they were rescued after being trapped in a
>cave.  The Mexico Tourism Board promotes exploration of caves in the
>Cuetzalan area where the group was detained. Many of the caverns were 
>mapped
>by foreign cave explorers - including the British - working in 
>collaboration
>with their Mexican colleagues over the last 20 years.
>
>"We're astonished because we don't know how so much was made over this,"
>Lilia Rueda, director of alternative tourism for Mexico's federal Tourism
>Department, told The Associated Press on Friday.
>
>(read the whole story at):
>http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=589&ncid=734&e=4&u=/ap/20040
>327/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_cave_tourism.
>
>It will probably be most effective for non-Mexicans to lobby entities whose
>job it is to interact with external constituencies. Listed below are some
>contacts.
>
>Mexican Consuls:
>
>Austin: Francisco Javier Alejo López  [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
>Houston: Eduardo Ibarrola Nicolín [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
>Mexican Embassy in the US: http://www.sre.gob.mx/eua/English/Defaulte.htm
>Mexican Secretariat of Tourism (SECTUR):
>Texas office: [log in to unmask]
>Special Ecotourism office in California: [log in to unmask]
>San Luis Potosi ecotourism website:
>http://www.descubresanluispotosi.com/web/index.html
>
>In addition, if you have worked with any groups that have official standing
>in Mexico please ask them to contact authorities as well in order to 
>support
>continued caving. An example would be the mayor of Bustamante who has
>recognized cavers' volunteer contributions in the past.
>
>Please, send some emails now. They will be most effective if they express
>concern in a respectful, constructive way.
>
>
>[end]

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